We Are Always Connected
by Alasse aka KiraLacus Forever
Summary: Second story of my AschLuke series. Luke fells ill in Keterburg and who's there to take care of him? Sequel to Realization and Confession. AschLuke pairing. Muz read the first story first! REVIEWS!


**Tales of the Abyss**

**HI, there!**

**Alright, this is the second story of my Asch/Luke pairing!**

**You must read the first one though, "Realization and Confesstion"!**

**I you haven't, go read it. If you did, continue with the story.**

"……………….." – normal talking

'……………….." – thinking

(italic) _"…………" _– Asch and Luke mind link communication

**We Are Always Connected**

By kiralacusforever

Beep, beep!

"38.9 degree…Whoa, you have quite a fever there, Luke." Jade smirks as he looks at the thermometer. Luke glares at the Necromancer as he covers his mouth and cough. After his previous encounter with Asch, they finally arrive at Keterburg. But all of a sudden, Luke gets sick along the way, so they decided to rest in the hotel. 'Must be the rain that time…'

Guy moves forth to hand him a glass of water and a bottle of medicine syrup. "Take it, Luke."

Luke shakes his head. He hates to take medicine, the taste is disgusting! Guy frowns at his master-friend. "Luke, you must drink it to get better. I know that you hate the taste, but you must."

The boy ignores him by snuggling back into his bed and pulls the blanket over him. Guy looks from Luke to Jade, who just smirks and shrugs his shoulder. They both left the room with the medicine to meet the others in the corridor.

Luke coughs out loud as the fever is causing aching to his body as well.

"_Luke?"_

Luke's eyes widen at the voice. _"Asch?!" _He feels relief that now their mind link will not cause any headaches, which he do not wish for in his current state.

"_I just arrived in Keterburg. Where are you now? In the hotel?" _Asch must have seen through his eyes again, as Luke coughs. _"As I expected, you are sick."_

"_How did you...?"_

"_I'll explain it to you later when we meet." _And so, the link close as tiredness takes over Luke, as he drifts into slumber.

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"He doesn't want to take his medicine?" Tear asks as Guy and Jade come out from the room, with the medicine in hand. Guy sighs, "He always hates to take medicine ever since young."

"He's such a brat! What should we do then?" Anise pouts and looks at the group, who are brainstorming.

"I'll do it."

They turn around in surprise to see Asch standing in the corridor as the god-general moves forth to them. "Asch? What are you doing here?"

"I sense that he is sick and it's affecting me as well, so I came by."

"Affecting you too huh…Interesting…" Jade smirks at Asch as he adjusts his spectacle.

Asch ignores him and looks at Guy. "Give me the medicine, I'll do it. He needs to get well soon, if you all want to continue with your work." They are all surprise that Asch did not use any words of insult about Luke like he always does. Guy hesitates for a while before handling the medicine to Asch.

"If you say so…But if you dare to do anything to him, I won't forgive you."

"Guy! Asch is not that kind of person!" Natalia snaps at him as Guy backs off from the princess.

"I won't." With that, Asch goes into the room while the group wait anxiously outside.

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Closing the door behind him, Asch looks at Luke, who fells asleep on his bed. He moves to the bed, placing the bottle beside the glass of water on the nearby table as he sits on the side of the bed. Luke's face is reddish from the high fever as the boy pants hard. Asch is about to wake him up when he notices tears felling from Luke's closed eyes.

"A…Asch…"

He is dreaming about him? But why is he crying? Did he make him cry too in the dream? Too bad that even though they share the same mind link, they do not have the ability to see each other's dreams.

"Asch…Don't…Don't go…Please…" Luke starts to weep more and coughs out. Asch can no longer stand the look of pain on the boy, as he caresses Luke's face.

"Luke? Luke, wake up, it's me."

"Asch…Don't go…Don't leave me…"

Asch leans down and covers Luke's lips with his, at the same time making sure that he is not pressing force onto the sick boy. Feeling the nostalgic feeling on his lips, Luke slowly opens up his eyes as he tries to focus his vision. "A..sch…?"

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"

Cough. "Bad…my body is aching and my mind is spinning."

"That's because you didn't take your medicine." Asch pokes Luke's forehead as he takes the bottle of medicine from the table. "Here, drink this up and take a good rest."

"Eww…I don't want to drink it…" Luke pouts, hoping that it will get through this with this action.

Cute. Asch thought as he smirks at Luke. "No, Luke. Pouting won't get you out from this. Drink it." Luke turns his face away. "Alright then…" Asch drinks the whole bottle and the glass of water, as he leans down fast and locks their lips. The cooling liquid flows down Luke's throat as Asch licks the few stains from the corner of the lips. "How is it?"

Luke did not know whether it is the fever or the kiss that causes him to go giddy. "It's…nice…"

"Good. Have a good sleep now." Asch is about to get up until Luke grabs hold onto his hand. "Luke?"

"Can…Can you stay here until I fell asleep?"

Asch sighs as he sits back down and brushes Luke's hair with his other hand. "Alright, I'll stay here. Get some sleep."

"Okay…" Luke closes his eyes as they tighten their hold in their hands. "How did you know that I'm sick anyway?"

"It seems that I can feel your body condition through the link, I didn't have this kind of feeling before. Must be due to that night." Luke blushes at the mention of that night. "I do have a little headache from the sickness, so I figure that you must be sick."

"So...You mean...We can share each other's pain now?"

"It seems so."

Luke looks at their hands. "You know…I had a dream just now…" Asch remains silent as Luke continues. "I dreamt that…you are walking away from me…No matter how much I called out to you and chased you, you just kept walking away. I…I'm…so scared…that you will leave me…leaving me alone…" Luke weeps as he turns his face towards the pillow, hiding from Asch.

The god-general stay silent, not knowing what to say. It is true that he wish to be with Luke but…He does not have much time left. He knew the condition of his body, after he had consulted the doctor in Belkend.

"Asch?"

Smiling to the crying boy, Asch raises his hand to wipe the tears off. "It's just a dream, don't let it bother you." He tightens the hold on Luke's hand as he brings it up too his lips, kissing it. "I'm going to stay here like this until you fell asleep. So, tuck in."

"Can you stay until the next morning I'm awake?" Luke looks at his origin with his teary eyes. How can Asch refuse him when he shows this expression? Sighing, the red-haired nods his head. Luke smiles and nods as he lies back down, closing his eyes. "_Arigatou...Asch..."_

"_Have a nice sleep."_

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The group is still waiting outside the corridor, waiting in patience except for a certain blond servant. Guy had been pacing around the front door or trying to pick up sound by leaning against the door, ever since Asch went in.

"Guy! Would you stop that! It's annoying!" Anise shouts, causing Guy to halts in his steps and rubs the back of his head. Anise sighs and looks at the door. "But he sure takes a long time…"

Then to their surprise, the door opens as Asch steps out with his hand still on the knob. "All of you are too noisy, can't you lower down your volume? I just managed to get him to sleep, I do not want you all to spoilt it."

"How is he?"

"He had taken his medicine and fell asleep." All of them, except Jade, let out a breath of relief. "But I will be staying beside him tonight till the next morning."

"EEEEEEHHHHH?!" All of them shout in union before covering their mouths, as Asch glares at them for their sudden outburst.

"Don't get me wrong. He wanted me to stay here for the night or he will make a fuss in the next morning."

"Alright then, that settles it. Asch will stay here to look after Luke for us, while we go get our rest. How nice." All of them sweatdrop as the colonel smirks. "Well then, I shall head to Nephry to tell her something. I shall see all of you next morning." With that, Jade walks off.

The girls turn to each other then to Asch. "Then we will go back to our rooms too, take care of him, Asch." Asch nods as the girls walk off, leaving him and Guy standing at the corridor.

Asch is about to go back in when Guy stops him. "Hey." He did not turn around to face the man-servant. "Thank you for taking care of Luke. But…I want to know why? I thought you hate him?"

"I don't." He goes into the room and closes the door. Guy sighs and rubs his head, but smiles as he proceeds to his room.

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Inside the room, Asch takes off his other cape, gloves and sword and places them on the table, leaving his inner uniform on. He grabs a chair and settles down beside the bed, as he reaches out to grab hold of Luke's hand. He feels his forehead and sighs as the fever is starting to subside. Asch looks from him to the window as he watches the snow falling from the night sky.

"_**I…I'm…so scared…that you will leave me…leaving me alone…"**_

"At least……I'm here with you right now…"

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Luke wakes up the next morning, noticing that his condition seems to get better. The arching is gone while the cough remains, but not as bad as before. He then remembers about last night, as he looks around searching for Asch, but he is nowhere to be seen. Luke sighs in disappointment until he notices Asch's cape, gloves and sword on the table. He grins widely before hurrying to open a mind link. _"Asch? Asch, are you there?"_

"_Luke? You're awake? How are you feeling?"_

"_I'm feeling better now. Where are you?" _

"_Just wait for a while, I'm coming right up."_

The link is cut off, as Luke waits anxiously on his bed. After a while, knocking comes from the door as Asch comes in, with a bowl in hand. He moves towards the bed, placing the bowl on the table and sits down on the chair. Luke leans forth into Asch's arm as he snuggles closer. Asch can only smiles at this action. "Looks like you are really feeling better."

Luke is pull away from the embrace as Asch leans down to kiss him. It is soft touch on the lips at first, but slowly deepens with Asch leading the way. They breaks off as Asch lays his forehead against his replica, they look into each other's identical eyes as they chuckle. "You hungry?"

Luke grins widely. "I'm famished!"

Asch reaches out and grabs the bowl he left on the table, and bring it in front of Luke. It is a bowl of porridge as Luke takes it in his hand. It smells great. He takes the spoon and taste the porridge. "It tastes so nice!! You cooked this right?!"

Asch just smiles and nods. "Eat slowly or you will scorch your tongue."

"I am so envy when Anise told me that your cooking is good. I thought I won't get the chance to taste your cooking. It's really delicious."

Asch blushes at the comment. Luke continues to eat the porridge but stops suddenly and looks up at Asch. He reaches out his hand and touches his red hair. "I like it better when your bangs are let down in the front."

"I pull it back because I don't want it to get in my way during battle. But if you like it…" He brushes through his red hair as the bangs fell freely in front of his face. "I will put it down when I'm with you."

"Promise." Luke holds out his pinky finger, which Asch twitches an eyebrow before hooking his with it. "Finish up the food."

"Luke!" Guy comes into the room while Tear and the others follow in behind him, they are quite surprise when they see Asch with his bangs let down, making the girls awe. Guy moves towards the bed. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks to Asch!"

Tear comes forth with the bottle of medicine. "You just had eaten something right? Here, take the medicine."

Luke groans. "Can I not? I'm feeling a lot better now."

"No. You must take it until you fully recover. You drank it yesterday right?"

"Well, it's because…" Luke steals a glance at Asch, who is taking the bowl from him to place it on the table. Jade notices the glance and smirks. "Asch must have a method to make Luke drink the medicine, right?"

"_He's so obnoxious..."_

Luke chuckles at Asch's comment, as he stares at the bottle. _"Asch...I don't want to drink it..."_

"_No. You must. In order to get well sooner."_

"_But..."_

"_No buts! Or you want me to do what I did last night?"_

"EH?!" Luke is blushing madly, and he is sure that he hears Asch's snickers at through the mind link. All of them are looking at him in confuse and worry. "I…er…"

"Here, take it." Tear holds out the bottle to Luke, who refuses to take it. "Luke!" Luke looks up at her and pouts. 'So cute…'

'Oh dear…' Goes through everyone's mind, Tear is falling into Luke's trick. Asch cannot stand it any longer as he grabs the bottle from Tear. "I'll do it! Where's the water?"

Natalia comes forth to pass him a glass of water, as he looks towards Luke, who is looking at him nervously. _"No, Asch...You are not planning to do that here...in front of everyone!!"_

"_You asked for it!"_

"ALRIGHT!! Alright…I'll drink it!" Luke grabs the bottle and the glass of water from Asch, as he drinks down both. He sticks out his tongue in disgust as he passes the empty containers back to Tear. "Could you guys go out for a while? I need to talk to Asch. Alone."

All of them hesitate a little before heading out of the room and close the door. Asch looks from the door and back to Luke, when the teen suddenly comes crashing his lips against his. Asch is shock at first, but immediately dominates and deepens the kiss.

"_Take the taste away..."_

"_With pleasure."_

Asch pushes Luke down to the bed as they kiss with lust and hunger. Luke lets Asch kiss and licks away the remaining taste of the medicine inside his mouth. They break off reluctantly for air as Asch sends a trail of kisses down Luke's neck to his collarbone, while Luke is pressing the back of Asch head, moaning and craving for more. But Asch stops and gives a light kiss on the lips, as he looks at Luke. "You know that we can't do it here, not now." Nodding his head in the direction of the door and smirks.

"I know…" Luke pouts, as Asch kiss him again. "Are you…leaving already?"

"Yes…I must head to the Sepiroth, you all must head to Mt.Roneal as well."

Luke saddens as Asch gets off from him and moves to the table to grab his things. While putting on the cape and gloves, he looks over to Luke, who is hugging his legs to his chest. Asch sighs as he sits back down on the bed and caresses Luke's cheek. "Hey…It's not like I'm gone forever."

"But…we won't be meeting for a while…right? And who knows what will happen?"

"_Have you forgotten? We are connected to each other, no matter where we are. We are never alone."_

Luke fights back his tears as he circles his arm around Asch's neck, while Asch pats his head and kiss him on the neck. _"Always?"_

"_Yeah...Always..."_

_**Even if my body disappears…My soul will always be with you…**_

_**Connected.**_

**The End**

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**Hai, hai!!**

**That's all for the second story!!**

**Stay tuned for more!!**

**PLS REVIEW!!!!!!!!!**


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